Everett Cole... Birth Story
***Disclaimer*** if your not into birth stories or have never read one... this may not be the post for you. It includes words like dilation, effaced, and I may or may not talk about “my need to poop.” You have been warned!
I can’t put into words how thankful we are that Everett is here! He didn’t get to the point of 11 days over like his brother, but everywhere we went when people asked “when’s your due date” and my response was “a week ago” was still pretty shocking.
Three babies... three very different births
BD- the cool calm long birth
Jman- the shorter intense birth
Everett- the fast and furious birth
Oh where to begin with Everett??? Well, the last couple doctor visits with Everett they were saying he was measuring smaller than my last babies... that he was measuring average. I wanted to to believe we would have a 7-8 lbs baby, but I knew only time would tell! I was also having periodic contractions for the last few weeks, something I never had with the other two before I went into labor. Nothing consistent, but enough to say, maybe this baby will come early/on time. But the due date came and went. We even had a bout of the stomach bug right at 40 weeks and no labor!
Those that had talked to me about him coming knew I wanted him to come before my birthday (1/29) but not on my birthday. Of course he didn’t listen😂. I even had the PA at our office (my dr had the flu 😫) try and strip my membranes on the 25th and nothing.
So then my birthday came and we were wondering if this baby would ever make his arrival! Andrew and I were planning on looking for a new to us car after his arrival. So with the extra time Everett gave us we started looking and actually found something on 1/30! We were signing every thing the until 7pm on that day and then I took the kids over to eat dinner at Chick-fil-a while Andrew finished the paperwork.
We got home that night and got the kiddos to bed. I was having inconsistent contractions just like most other evenings. Nothing regular that I couldn’t talk through or move around through... but a few more than other nights. I told Andrew he may want to double check that his bags are ready, just in case. I went to sleep for a little bit and when Andrew came to bed, I got up for a little bit to make sure my contractions weren’t consistent since I was still having some. So from about 1am- 2am I checked hospital bags, and did some laundry while checking contractions. Still inconsistent and not that painful, so I went back to bed around 2am.
At 2:30am, I woke up with a contraction and all of sudden I heard a pop... and felt a gush of fluids if you catch my drift😬. I stood up quick and said “Andrew, I think my water just broke!” To which he shot up out of bed quicker than I have ever seen in 9 years of marriage and said, “ Are you serious?!?!”
So, like any logical person, we start googling what it feels like when your water breaks, and how to be sure your water broke, to make sure we weren’t confused. Then, since we have never had a water break before on its own we were trying g to remember what we were supposed to do. Oh yea... go straight to the hospital.
So we call Andrew’s parents to come get the kiddos and thankfully, they were there in twenty minutes. In the midst of this time my contractions went from inconsistent and not painful to two minutes apart and unbearable. We get ourselves in the car to go to the hospital around 3:00ish. I feel like I am dying in the car and start telling Andrew that as soon as I get there I am getting epidural and I didn’t care that I had gone naturally before, I wasn’t doing it this time. We pull up to the emergency room entrance since it is the middle of the night, only to realize when we enter it is not quite the right place. As I walk in the door, I immediately fall over the first bench in the lobby and can’t move through the contraction. The poor security guard in the lobby didn’t know what to do... but asked if we wanted him to ask for a wheel chair. I stop a couple more times before kneeling over the last last bench in the lobby saying that I had to poop right now and I would do there in the lobby. Poor security guard this is not part of his job😜. I asked if there was a bathroom. So the security guard unlocked it and I went in. Andrew kept telling me I needed to get off the toilet and go upstairs, but I just couldn’t do it. Thankfully three nurses came down and oh so gently informed me that I had to go upstairs.
So I got in the wheelchair and got rolled upstairs to labor and delivery while Andrew was sent to the actual emergency waiting room to check me in. I was not happy about Andrew leaving for a minute, but I took the opportunity to tell the nurses about 1,000 times that I did not care that I had gone without an epidural the past two births, that I had to have an epidural and had to have it right away.
They got me up to the room and asked me to get the hospital gown on. All I know is that the contractions were so bad that I was laying in the ground when Andrew came in with only one shoe off. Andrew managed to help me get in the hospital gown and I told him and the nurse that I really needed to go to the bathroom (spoiler alert... I didn’t need to go to the bathroom). The nurse said she needed to check me first... and when she did, we found out I was already 9 cm dilated. At that point I knew there would be no epidural, which ultimately what I wanted, so I guess that was good, even though I was in so much pain at the moment.
At that point about 8 different nurses came in to get ready for delivery knowing that there would not be much time. I heard them call the doctor twice at that point... they seemed very concerned he wouldn’t make it and at one point even talked about if they had everything in case they needed to “catch the baby.”
At this point it was about 4:15, only about an hour 45 minutes after my water broke. I told the nurses that I had to push and they said don’t push, just wait. Anyone who has ever been in labor would probably know how difficult that would be. After a few minutes of trying to not push, I told them I couldn’t help it. They still told me not to, but my body would not let me stop. So I was pushing for a couple minutes while they still said to stop. Thankfully the doctor came at that point and with in about 5 minutes there was baby Everett on my chest! He was born at 4:24 am on 1/31/18- 9 lbs 15 oz, 22 3/4 inches long! I had always hoped for a quick pushing experience after my first two and guess I got it this time.Overall, the time from water breaking until until delivery was less than two hours! I am just glad we made it to the hospital!
After Everett was born, I think I told Andrew about 100 times, “I feel so much better!” And “I can’t believe that happened so fast!” After this birth people have already asked which I would prefer, the fast or slow delivery.... and I just don’t know. BD’s birth was just so calm (albeit long), and I don’t know that I could ever recreate that.... but Everett’s was so fast and intense. His is actually the only one I asked for the epidural on... and the only one there was not time to get it. I guess each had its challenges. But mostly they each remind how amazing God created our bodies to be! We are so thankful that baby Everett is here and excited for all the future holds for him and our family!
Congratulations!! He's precious!! So glad you made it to the hospital for his quick delivery.
ReplyDeleteWOW!!! Thankful you were about to get there. He did arrive quickly once he decided to arrive. HA! Seems that boy wasn't in any hurry for a while anyway. He is a chunk! So precious indeed. Congratulations to all of you.
ReplyDeleteGOD BLESS!
Charlotte Moore
Wow!! That's a great birth story!! I've heard they tend to go quicker with each child. You should have known (I say this in jest b/c I get it and it's not that simple!) that you were in transition when you felt like you couldn't do it without the epidural!! I know though, if I were you, I would assume it couldn't possibly be time for that yet given how fast it went. And with both of mine, even though I KNEW it would be that way, I started talking about how I just couldn't do it during transition. And both times I was shocked when they told me it was time to push. Lol! Logical thinking is just not a priority when you're going through all that and in that much pain! He is beautiful and I'm so excited for you guys!! :) Congratulations!!!
ReplyDeleteOhhhh, this was such a great birth story!! You had me LOLing at the poop part!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I say Chick fil A will get your labor going every time! ;) It took my contractions from every half hour to every three minutes and then my water broke in the parking lot, haha!! I had a very intense fast birth with my daughter similar to what you had with Everett. The nurses told me the contractions tend to hurt more when it's fast and your water has broken b/c there's just no cushion anymore. :/ Congrats on your beautiful boy!!